GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota State flipped the script from nine days ago as the Bison picked up a road win over North Dakota, defeating the Fighting Hawks 87-70 Friday at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. 

UND (5-4) was the victor by 18 in Fargo on Dec. 7, but unlike the last matchup the Bison (8-4) were connecting from deep this time around and used that advantage to extract revenge. Paul Miller, who was held scoreless a week ago, led NDSU with 22 points and A.J. Jacobson added 16 for the visitors.

"We strayed away from what we did last week. We got away from who we have been up until this point defensively. We didn't guard individually and we didn't guard collectively and that really showed," UND head coach Brian Jones said. 

"I also didn't think we had great shot selection tonight.  I thought NDSU came out with a lot of urgency and this is a good lesson to learn. You have to be humble in your winnings and when you play a quality opponent you cannot think that you can win by just showing up. This is a great lesson for our guys to learn."

NDSU had trouble with sophomore Conner Avants as he scored a career-high 22 points for the Fighting Hawks on 11-of-12 shooting from the floor. Classmate Cortez Seales added a season-high 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting, but no one else could find a rhythm for the home team.

The rest of the squad went 8-for-37 and senior Quinton Hooker had eight of his 15 points from the foul stripe. This marked the first time this season an opponent shot better from the floor than UND. NDSU finished with a 52.6 percent clip, while holding the home team to a 44.6 percent mark.

Avants had UND up early 7-2 after back-to-back buckets down low and the Fighting Hawks would hold a five-point lead again at 16-11 after a pair of free throws by Geno Crandall at the 11:38 mark of the first half.

Unfortunately, that advantage would be short-lived. Khy Kabellis hit a 3-pointer two minutes later to give NDSU its first lead of the game at 20-19 and that basket was part of a 7-0 run by the Bison, who would never trail again.

UND did trim what was a 10-point first half deficit down to five by the break, but after Avants scored the opening points of the second half, the Fighting Hawks could not get any closer.

After going 1-for-20 from deep in their home loss, the Bison made eight more treys on the same amount of attempts in this contest with Miller leading that charge with a 3-for-6 effort. 

UND managed to go just 4-for-16 from beyond the arc and also struggled from the foul line where the Fighting Hawks made just 16-of-30 attempts. 

The road team has now won the last three matchups in this series.

The Fighting Hawks will wrap up non-conference play on Tuesday with their first game at Iowa since the 1968-69 season.

-- UND --